Archon
Archons are the most powerful of the angelic beings and, indeed, possess the second highest difficulty level of all randomly generated monsters (next to the arch-lich). They are exceedingly popular as pets due to their power (and as pets cannot cast attack spells, the arch-lich is far less desirable as a pet due to its weaker physical attacks). If neither Demonbane nor Sunsword have yet been created, the first Archon to be generated will be given one of themSee makemon.c#line268; the game always tries to give overlord A's one of the two artifacts; if the chosen artifact has already been generated, it will be converted to a normal long sword. Thus, when one of the two artifacts has already been generated, the next Archon generated has a 50% chance of receiving the other.; they are also guaranteed a shield of reflection. Archons have such high difficulty that even for a level 30 character, they cannot appear before dungeon level 22. Since the Dungeons of Doom end at or before level 29 and Archons cannot be generated in Gehennom, most characters will not see one before finding the Amulet of Yendor. Once you have the Amulet, your effective dungeon level is at least 45, so Archons may be randomly generated from the Castle up. There are no guaranteed Archons in the game. There is one exception of these rules - random A generated on second version of Medusa's Island can be an Archon, omitting difficulty check . Strategy Archons will always be peaceful for lawful characters of sufficiently high alignment. Some players consider this a significant advantage of being lawful. Archons' guaranteed shield will reflect a death ray (or any other ray, for that matter), but Vorpal Blade can decapitate them. They are too large to be bisected. Pacifists may use an early wish for a blessed figurine of an Archon. The best way to fight Archons is to use a cockatrice/chickatrice corpse and be blinded to protect yourself from the stunning effect of their blinding gaze. Wearing the Eyes of the Overworld also prevents you from being stunned by this attack. Or, you could just try avoiding them and keep moving. If you are a high-level player when you reach the planes, you are almost guaranteed to see one to several Archons. Archons as pets As mentioned above, Archons make outstanding pets. They are fast, use their blinding gaze (monsters don't get stunned by this attack), hit hard, and wear armor. A level 25 or higher Archon will always ignore conflict. A level 32 or higher Archon will also be immune to polymorph traps (but not levelporters). The easiest way to get a pet Archon is to apply a blessed figurine of an Archon. It is possible for a high level character to tame an Archon with a spell of charm monster, but it may require a number of attempts. The Castle is the most promising place to farm for one once your level is high enough, but Vlad's Tower might also do. Archons will wear gloves, helmets, boots, and shields but they're too large to wear any armor that fits on the body. To get a pet Archon to wear armor, enchant the piece of armor and then drop it in front of the Archon. Archons will also pick up and use a variety of items, including unicorn horns, amulets of life saving, and potions of gain level. Archons will wield weapons left for them, but getting them to drop their starting weapon can be difficult. Applying a bullwhip towards them can strip them of their current weapon, allowing you to hand them another weapon or simply giving you the opportunity to enchant their starting one before handing it back. If you give your pet an artifact while it is carrying nothing else, it will never unwield it: monsters prefer (non-cross-aligned) artifact weapons over everything else, and rank those they have by position in an internal list. In SLASH'EM, Solars make even better pets. Encyclopaedia entry References Category:Monsters